


The sacrifice of a life, or rather an exchange, instead

by vagrantBreath



Series: And Then The Bough Breaks [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Guns of Gamora, Hiding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-22 00:04:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12469000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vagrantBreath/pseuds/vagrantBreath
Summary: Sven always kept him safe. And now he was alone. The Alteans were going to pay for this.





	The sacrifice of a life, or rather an exchange, instead

**Author's Note:**

> Oh look it's a series now fuck me running. The plan is to sprinkle little ficlets in between my other fics. I want to eventually do a multi-chapter one surrounding what happened with Akira, Lotor, and Sven, but let's start here.

The day the Alteans came to Earth was immortalized forever in textbooks. Propaganda. They came and stopped all wars on Earth, spreading peace and joy to all of them. Everything was so much better once the Alteans came.

No one told the Earthlings that the Alteans saw them as immediate threats, and installed a hoktril immediately upon birth. The infant wasn't even allowed to see its mother before it was whisked away. Once that was done, the newborn was placed with the mother, so the child could have the skin-to-skin contact it required.

The mother never even noticed.

The Alteans thought all Earthlings were under their control. That all mothers gave birth where they could see them.

Akira turned up the corners of his lips in a distasteful snarl. Not all mothers, he thought contemptuously. He hadn't met his, but he had been born away from an Altean-run settlement. It had been difficult with his father, not able to see any other humans as they may have ratted them out, but they had lived _free_. It had been everything to him. Free to get angry at his father, free to get sad, free to... free to _live._ When his father was killed... well, he knew it would happen someday.

But then... somehow, he had met others that had been on the fringe of society like him. And a man that took him in, gave him a place to stay, food to eat, company before the Alteans found him and...

Akira continued to creep up on the Altean base. If he moved fast enough, he'd be able to-

A hand covered his mouth, and a sinuous chuckle filled his ears. "That's not a smart idea, little one," a voice told him.

An Altean? Damn it, he had been caught! He tried biting the hand, only for the Altean to hold him tightly. "None of that," came the strict order. "Now stay quiet and still. If you make too much noise, the Alteans will come our way. And we don't want that before the explosives go off."

Explosives? Akira turned his head, only able to catch purple skin and white hair before two large explosives went off. He made a distressed noise- there could- "Sven could be in there!" he finally managed to say, ripping his head away from the other's hand.

"Sven?" The purple skinned man blinked. "Are you speaking of an Altean? Or of a human? There should be no humans left in that base. They were taken on a ship last night."

He was too late. Akira raised his hands to his face, gritting his teeth, trying not to scream. If he did- the Alteans would find them. And all he had was his knife. He couldn't fight them like this. He couldn't-

"Hm." The man let him go, and when Akira looked over he could see him thinking. "You don't have a hoktril, do you? And you do have a reason to fight against the Alteans."

"What's it to you." It was gritted out, not even a question.

He held his hand out. "I may have a way for you to fight back, if you would take it."

Akira stared at him for a moment. "Who the fuck are you?"

He chuckled. "Mm, I would rather not say exactly who. But... if you need a name, Lotor is good enough. Now, will you come with me or not?"

Akira looked at the hand.

"Fine.

"Good." Lotor turned. "My ship is this way. We will be on our way now."

Akira was silent the entire trip, watching Lotor intensely. Who was he? He moved like he was used to getting his way, and... the way he said everything, Akira knew that Lotor wasn't his real name. So who was this man? _What_ was this man? He had never seen anything like him before. When he approached a spacecraft, landing easily, Akira placed a hand on his knife, waiting. He might have still taken him to Alteans. He had to be careful. He-

But when he exited-

_Sound._

It wasn't loud. It was just... _life_. It was something he had never heard before. The sound of people around him, working, laughing, living. Akira looked around, his eyes wide. What was this? Where- any Altean settlements weren't this loud! Loud was bad. And alone was quiet too. This was... _life._ Akira turned to Lotor, watching him smile gently at him.

"Welcome to the Guns of Gamora," he told him. "Narti will get you situated...?"

It took Akira a moment to realize Lotor was probing for his name. "Akira," he said, grudgingly.

"Akira." Lotor patted his shoulder. "I suppose I will see you later. I must make a report."

And as Lotor left, waving at an orange woman, Akira found himself dwelling on that gentle smile and that touch on his shoulder.


End file.
